KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) said it wants to be free from monitoring and investigations into its activities from any parliamentary committee, in the new constitution.

The Commission also demanded an authority to look into corruption cases at private and public agencies including banks, financial institutions and corporate houses in the new constitution.

In its six-point suggestion to the Constituent Assembly regarding proposed provisions in the first draft of the constitution, the anti-corruption constitutional body said the draft has limited its rights from what were set in the Interim Constitution.

Copies of the suggestion have been sent to ministers, leaders of major political parties and all CA members.

While the Interim Constitution had provisioned that the Commission can investigate into cases of corruption and inappropriate acts which involve a person holding a public position, the draft has only mentioned ‘corruption’ and dropped ‘inappropriate acts’, according to the CIAA.

In the suggestion, the Commission claimed that the parliamentary monitoring and investigations into its activities are unnecessary and invite conflict of interest.

As the CIAA, as a constitutional body, submits its annual report to the President, which is later forwarded to the Parliament and concerned parliamentary committees for discussion, it is not appropriate to mention a separate provision of monitoring, argued the Commission.

Likewise, the Commission be provided an authority to look into corruption cases of private and public sectors including banks and financial institutions as mentioned in the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which Nepal has already ratified, the CIAA demanded.